You could say so many things are for the birds. The latest is having children in old age.
Jokes aside, scientists are happy to report that a a 74-year-old Laysan albatross with as many as 30 offspring is trying for another child.
The bird with the Latin name Phoebastria immutabilis, and called ‘Wisdom’, nests on the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge, alongside nearly 70% of all Laysan albatrosses in Hawaii. She was first ringed as an adult in 1956 by the legendary ornithologist Chandler Robbins and is now the world’s oldest known banded bird in the wild.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement. Millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young every year.
Wisdom and her partner, a bird called Akeakamai, have returned to the Pacific Ocean atoll since 2006. They mate for life, and lay one egg a year. Akeakamai has not been seen for the past several years and Wisdom has started speaking with other males since her return.
Albatrosses are not expected to live more than 50 years, making Wisdom a legend among birds. She hatched her latest chick a few years ago in February 2021, making her at least 70 years old.
